"Forever's an awfully long time."

Posts tagged ‘life’

No, this isn’t about the song that was made popular by Lorde… Although it’s a bit based off of it. Hello blog readers, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Anyways…

For the past three years, my Christmas and New Year’s were spent in Manila. For those unfamiliar with Philippine geopgraphy, Manila is the capital of the Philippines. My sister and I love going back there; most of our cousins are there, and there are tons of bonding moments. Not to mention the shopping and all the Christmas, birthday (our birthdays are in December) and New Year’s money. *wink wink*

But what I want to focus on today is the lavish lifestyle we live for about 3 weeks maximum. We stay at a certain household, consisting of my uncle, a vice president of a big company, my auntie, the branch manager of… a bank, my three working older cousins; one works in a bank, the other works as a manager for a certain company, the other a sales rep for another certain brand of perfume, and another cousin who is going to college in one of the prominent schools in Manila.

Now my uncle alone has a sufficient salary. Add everyone else in his family’s salary, and well, you get two houses (inside the same gate), six maids, and eight cars.

Eight cars. Designer models, too.

My mom was shocked when she asked one of the maids for coffee and the maid went, “Okay ma’am, what kind of coffee would you like? The instant one or the brewed one?” Out of curiosity, my mom asked what kind of beans were used for the brewed coffee. “Oh, the beans are from Australia.”

Oh. Okay.

Not to mention that they’re there at a moments notice. You could literally snap (but we don’t do that, none of us do) and they’d be there. I admit to taking advantage of this, but not in a major way. “Do we have milk?” I’d ask. “Would you like it in a mug, or in a bowl?” “Both, please. And I’d like another glass for my water.”

Let’s face it, if we had maids for the rest of our lives, we’d basically be having them do food and cleaning related jobs. Probably massages.

It’s funny, because compared to them, we’re practically peasants. I mean, I don’t have a maid. We only have one car, and well, one house. But it’s enough and I’m happy.

Isn’t that all we need in life? To be happy?

I’ve realized that happiness is a very subjective thing. Happy can be iPhones and jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash, or it can be counting your dollars on the train to the party. (Yep, I did that on purpose). Happy is what you make it. Happy is whatever you want to be. And in the end, happiness drives you to do what you want to do for the rest of your life.

I will end this blog post with a saying that one of my internet idols said in one of his videos.

There are some times when I am just mesmerized by life; the times when I feel like everything is perfect, and just the way it should be. Today was one of those times.

Earlier, at 9:30 AM, I was able to help bring a beautiful, healthy, 2.5 kilogram baby boy into the world.

Words can’t explain how grateful I am to be a student nurse. Bringing lives into the world is one of my favorite experiences. Even though I’ve only aided in three deliveries, (Two normal ones and a Caesarean) I feel like these three have helped me realize how beautiful life is.

And all three times, I’ve found myself getting a bit teary-eyed when I hear the little ‘waah! waah!’ that comes a few seconds after the baby comes out of the mother’s womb. It’s just amazing to me how life can come so quickly into the world but can be affected by so many things.

Life. Four letters. Similar to love. These sentiments that enter into my mind when I’m caring for patients, handing instruments to doctors, or assisting in deliveries, makes me sensitive to the fact that sometimes we take a lot of things for granted.